Wayward Daughters: Carry On
by hcomet28
Summary: Bound by tragedy and blood to a dangerous, otherworldly mission, two sisters - Deanna and Samantha Winchester - travel in mysterious back roads of the country in their '67 Chevy Impala, searching for their missing father... and hunting down every evil supernatural force they encounter along the way. (Basically, Supernatural but with sisters instead of brothers)
1. One Fateful Night

On an early November night in 1983, in a simple home in Lawrence, Kansas the Winchester family's lives were changed forever. And not necessarily for the better.

Inside the house, a blonde woman wearing a white nightgown - Mary Winchester - carried her four-year-old daughter Deanna into a dark room. "Come on, let's say goodnight to your sister," she told the child.

Mary flicked the light switch of the room, lighting up a nursery . In the middle of the room sat a crib in which lay a baby girl, Samantha. Baby Samantha looked over at her mother and sister as Mary set Deanna down. Deanna ran over to the crib, leaning over the rail and bending to kiss her little sister on the forehead.

"Night Sam," Deanna said.

Mary leaned over Samantha as well. "Goodnight, love," She brushes Samantha's hair back and kisses her forehead.

A rough, male voice speaks from the door. "Hey, Deanna,"

Deanna turns around and sees her father, John Winchester standing in the doorway. She rushes over to him, exclaiming "Daddy!"

"Hey, sweetie," John replies as he scoops his eldest daughter up. "So, what do you think?" he asks her. "You think Sammie's ready to toss around a ball yet?"

Deanna shakes her head, laughing at her father's question. "No, Daddy,"

John laughs and agrees with her. "No,"

Mary stops by John and Deanna on her way out of the room. "You got her?" she asks him.

"I got her," John assures his wife, hugging Deanna closer.

Mary leaves the room and heads for her and John's bedroom.

John turns toward the crib and says to his baby girl, "Sweet dreams, Sam," before he carries Deanna out of the nursery, flipping off the lights.

Samantha watches them go, gurgling while she reaches for her toes.

The animal-themed mobile above Samantha's crib begins to spin on its own while she watches, transfixed. The transportation-themed clock on the walls ticks, ticks, stops. The moon-shaped nightlight flickers.

Several hours later, Mary was sound asleep in her and John's room. At least she was until strange noises began to come through the baby monitor on the nightstand next to the bed. Mary groggily opened her eyes and turned on the light. "John?" she asked sleepily.

She turned to the other side of the bed, but it is empty. Mary got to her feet.

She walked down the hall to Samantha's nursery. The silhouette of a man – whose build is similar to John's – stands over Samantha's crib.

"John?" Mary asked. "Is she hungry?"

"Shh," 'John' told her.

"All right," Mary said, too tired to argue. She went back into the hallway and saw that the stair light was flickering. She frowned and tapped the light until it steadied. "Hm," she murmured. She could see a bit of flickering light coming from downstairs; Mary descended the stairs to investigate. When she reached the living room she saw that John was asleep on the couch as a war movie played on the TV.

The realization slowly sunk in… if John was down here, than the man upstairs was not and must be an intruder. Mary's only thought immediately after that was: _Sam. _She took off in a sprint back up the stairs, calling out, "Sammie! Sammie!"

Mary stopped short when she reached Samantha's nursery, taking in the sight before her.

~ SPN ~

Back in the living room, John was awoken suddenly at the sound of Mary screaming. "Mary?" Terrified, John scrambled out of the chair and headed for the stairs. "Mary!" he called.

He burst through the closed door of the nursery, panting, "Mary," He looked around the room for his wife, but she wasn't there. The room appeared to be quiet and empty, except for Samantha, who was awake in her crib. John glanced around once more and pushed down the side of his daughter's crib. "Hey, Sammie. You okay?"

John was completely focused on the baby, until he saw something dark drip onto the crib rail. He reached down and touched it as two more drops landed on the back of his hand. He realized now that these drips looked an awful lot like blood.

Feeling his heart stop, he risked a look upwards and was instantly petrified. Mary was sprawled out up on the ceiling, the stomach of her nightgown red with blood and she was staring at John, struggling to breathe. In horror, John collapsed to the floor, staring his dying wife. He cried out in desperation. "No! Mary!"

At that moment, Mary burst into flames, the fire spreading from her body to the rest of the ceiling and the rest of the room. John could only stare at his wife, his body frozen. He wasn't taken out of his stupor until her heard Samantha begin to wail. With the sudden reminder that he was not alone, John stood up and scooped Samantha out of her crib into his arms and rushed out of the room.

Out in the hall, Deanna was making her way towards her sister's room. She'd been woken up by someone yelling and was on her way to investigate. Before she made it to the nursery, she was met by her dad exiting the room. "Daddy!" she called out walking over to him.

John shoved Samantha into Deanna's arms and told her, "Take your sister outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Deanna, go!"

The seriousness in John's voice kept Deanna from asking questions. She did as she was told and ran down the stairs, clutching her baby sister tightly.

John turned back to the nursery. "Mary!" The fire had spread to the entire room, the nursery now a blazing inferno. His wife's body could barely be seen through the flames. "No!" John cried in despair.

~ SPN ~

Deanna ran out the door into the yard, protectively clutching Samantha in her arms. "It's okay, Sammie," she comforted her sister. Whether or not she was lying, Deanna didn't know.

She looked back up at the window of Samantha's nursery, which was now lit with gold. It would have been pretty, had it not be for the worry clawing its way through Deanna's chest.

John burst through the front door, running towards his daughters. Not stopping, he scooped them into his arms. "I gotcha," he whispered to them as he carried them away from their home just in time.

At that moment, fire exploded out of the nursery window.

~ SPN ~

The house was surrounded by dozens of people from firefighters to police officers to paramedics. Firefighers were working to put out the flames while police officers were trying to keep people drawn to the blaze out of curiosity away from the house.

Across the street from the commotion sat the Winchesters, on the hood of John's Chevy Impala. John held Samantha in his arms while Deanna sat by her father's side.

John looked at the remnants of the fire, his mind whirling. _What the hell had just happened? Mary, his wife, was dead. How was that possible? And why?_


	2. Long Time No See

**Stanford University**

**Palo Alto, CA**

It had been twenty-two years since that horrible November night, and life was carrying on as normal.

Young Jesse Moore – a man in his early twenties with honey blonde hair – rounded the corner of his modest apartment into the bedroom. He ran his hand over his jaw, silently vetoing shaving. He was wearing red pants with yellow suspenders over his tight black t-shirt. "Sam!" he called out, setting his black fireman's hat onto his head. "Would you hurry up? We were supposed to leave fifteen minutes ago."

A few moments passed in silence. Jesse rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's antics. "Sam! Come on already!"

An adult Samantha Winchester walked out of the bathroom door and leaned against the doorjamb, an annoyed look on her face. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, having refused to wear any kind of costume. "Are you seriously making me go?" she asked.

"Yes!" Jesse said. "It'll be fun, trust me."

Sam walked into the room begrudgingly.

"Where's your costume?" Jesse asked, looking her up and down.

A laugh bubbled from Sam's lips as she tucked some hair behind her ear. "You know how I feel about Halloween." she said, leaning into Jesse and kissing him gently.

~ SPN ~

Jesse and Sam were sitting at a table in a bar with their friend Luis. Sam looked around the room, taking in her surroundings – an old habit her father had drilled into her years ago. Everywhere she looked, she saw Halloween decorations; a gargoyle with cobwebs and a baseball hat that proclaimed "GET NAKED." She was the only person not wearing a costume.

Sam's attention was drawn back to her table as Jesse raised a glass. "So, here's to Sam and her amazing LSAT victory," he said, beaming.

"It's not really a big deal," Sam insisted as she, Jesse and Luis clinked glasses.

"Yeah, she acts humble, but she scored a one seventy-four," Jesse said proudly.

The friends downed their shots.

"Is that good?" Luis asked.

"Pure genius," Jesse said, smiling.

"So there you go," Luis told Sam. "You are a first-round draft pick. You can go to any law school you want!"

"Actually, I have an interview here on Monday," Sam said. "If it goes well, I think I could get a full ride next year." Her nerves crept into her voice.

"It's gonna go great," Jesse assured her, rubbing her arm.

Sam gave him a small smile. "It had better."

"How does it feel to be the golden girl of your family?" Luis asked Sam.

Sam fidgeted in her seat. "Um… I haven't actually told them."

Luis's eyed widened in disbelief. "Oh, no, I would be gloating! Why not?"

"Well, we're not exactly the Brady's," _That's putting it lightly,_ Sam thought.

"And I'm not exactly the Huxtable's," Luis retaliated. "More shots?"

Sam and Jesse both declined, but Luis went to the bar anyways.

Jesse turned to Sam and said, "Seriously, I am so proud of you. You'll knock 'em dead on Monday and you will get that full ride. No doubt about it."

Sam stared at him for a moment. "What would I do without you?"

Jesse tilted his head, as if considering the question. "Probably crash and burn,"

The couple smiled at each other and kissed.

~ SPN ~

Late that night, Jesse and Sam were lying in bed together.

Suddenly, Sam heard a noise, causing her eyes to snap open. _That sounded like a window opening, _she thought.

She slowly maneuvered out of bed and padded into the living room. No one was around but her. She looked around, trying to note any changes to the room. The window was indeed open, though Sam knew she had closed it before bed.

She caught the barely there sound of footsteps. Her years of training seemed to kick in immediately. Once the intruder entered the room, Sam lunged forward and they two were soon fighting, the intruder gaining the upper hand. Soon, Sam was knocked down and the mystery guest had her pinned to the floor, one hand at her neck and the other holding her wrist.

"Easy there, tiger," a feminine voice said, chuckling.

_Wait, I know that voice… _Sam thought.

"Deanna?" she asked, her breathing starting to return to normal.

A laugh confirmed it; this intruder the sister Sam hadn't seen in years. "You scared the hell out of me."

"That's because you're out of practice," Deanna teased.

Sam didn't think; she flipped Deanna over and slammed her heel into her back.

"Or not," Deanna said. "Get off me."

Sam stood and helped Deanna up. Now that she had a good view of her sister, she looked her over, confused. "What are you doing here?"

Deanna's cheeky grin immediately appeared. "I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by for a beer."

Samantha sighed, exasperated. "What are you doing here, Deanna?" she repeated. She was not in the mood for Deanna's sarcasm.

Deanna's smile faded and she looked at Sam seriously. "Alright. We need to talk."

"Ever hear of a phone?" Sam didn't know where Deanna had last been, but it couldn't have been close by. Why would she drive hundreds of miles just to talk to Sam? They hadn't talked for a really long time.

Deanna smirked. "Right, because you would have picked up,"

The room was flooded with light as Jesse entered the room, flicking the light switch. He was wearing sweatpants with _Batman _insignias adorned on them. "Sam?"

Sam and Deanna turned to face Jesse as soon as they heard him.

"Jesse," Sam said, silently working through what to say next. She walked over to Jesse's side and addressed her sister. "Deanna, this is Jesse, my boyfriend."

Deanna's eyes raked over Jesse's bare chest appreciatively.

Recognition flashed in Jesse's eyes. He asked Sam, "Wait, your sister Deanna?" Sam had told him plenty of stories about her older sister. He smiled at Deanna as she took a couple steps closer to him.

"I love Batman," Deanna said, gesturing at Jesse's sweatpants. "You know, I have to say, you are completely out of my geek sister's league."

Sam ignored the "geek" comment; Deanna had called her that since they were kids.

"Let me go grab a shirt," Jesse started toward the bedroom, but stopped when Deanna spoke.

"No, don't bother. Seriously," Deanna said, keeping her eyes on Jesse. "Anyway, I need to borrow your girlfriend here, talk about some private family stuff. But it was really nice to meet you."

"No," Samantha said. Deanna's look at her disbelievingly as Sam put her arm around Jesse's waist. "Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of him." Sam leveled Deanna with a stony stare.

"Okay then," Deanna said, choosing her next words carefully. She looked Sam straight in the eye and said, "Dad hasn't been home in a couple of days."

_And?_ Sam thought. "So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift," she dismissed. "He'll stumble in eventually."

Deanna was silent for a moment, before continuing. "Dad's on a _hunting trip_. And he hasn't been home in a few days."

Sam's face remained stoic, while mentally she was worrying. _She wouldn't say anything… would she _If Deanna said anything more about… hunting, there would be trouble.

Jesse glanced at Sam questioningly.

"Jesse could you excuse us?" Sam asked, not really looking at him. "Me and my sister need to step outside for a bit."

~ SPN ~

Once Sam had pulled on a sweatshirt, the sisters headed out of the apartment. She didn't wait until they were down the stairwell to start on Deanna.

"You cannot break into my apartment in the middle of the night and just expect me to hit the road with you,"

Deanna sighed. "You're not listening to me, Sammie. Dad is missing. I need your help to find him."

"Remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or what about the Devil's Gate in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine." Sam pointed out.

Deanna stopped in the middle of the staircase and turned around. Sam stopped just before they collided.

"Not for this long he hasn't," Deanna argued. "Are you coming with me or what?"

"No," Sam said.

"Why not?" Deanna asked incredulously.

"I told you I was done hunting and I meant it. Never again." Sam reminded her.

"It wasn't that bad," Deanna insisted, starting down the stairs again.

Sam followed her closely. "Oh, really? When I told Dad that I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."

"And?" Deanna asked, not seeing the point.

"I was nine!" Sam growled. "He should've told me not to be afraid of the dark."

"Don't be afraid of the dark?" Deanna repeated. "Are you crazy? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there."

Sam couldn't argue that. "Still. The way we grew up, after Mom died, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her… it was insane."

Deanna said nothing.

Sam continued, "But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we just kill everything we can find."

"And we save a lot of people," Deanna said hotly.

After a moment's silence, Sam started again. "You really think Mom would have wanted this for us?"

Deanna roller her eyes at Sam's touchy-feely attitude. She yanked the door open and walked out.

The two girls descended the short flight of stairs leading from the door to the parking lot.

Sam kept at it. "Weapons training and melting silver into bullets? Deanna, we were raised like freaking warriors."

They crossed the parking lot and walked up to the Chevy Impala they crossed the country in as children.

"So what are you gonna do?" Deanna asked. "Just live some normal, apple pie life?"

"Not normal. Just safe." Sam corrected.

Deanna looked away from Sam, her posture stiff. "That's why you ran away,"

"I was just going to college," Sam defended. "Dad was the one who said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. That's all I've done."

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble, I can feel it. That is, if he's not already dead." Deanna words caused Sam to go silent. "I can't do this by myself."

"Yes, you can," Sam said; Deanna was a force of nature, she never needed help with anything.

Deanna looked down at the ground, she knew Sam was right. She looked back up, admitting, "Well, I don't want to,"

Sam looked down, thinking hard.

She looked up, reluctantly asking, "What was he hunting?"

Deanna hid a small grin of satisfaction as she opened the Impala's trunk, and then the spare tire compartment, revealing an arsenal. She propped the compartment open with a shotgun and began to dig through the clutter.

"Alright, where the hell did I put that thing?" Deanna muttered.

"So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Sam asked.

"I was working on a job of my own. This voodoo thing in New Orleans." Deanna answered without looking up from her rummaging.

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised.

Deanna finally looked up at Sam. "I am twenty-six, sis," she reminded Sam as she pulled some papers out of the folder she'd been looking for.

"Here we are. So, Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy…"

Deanna handed one of the papers to Sam.

"…Went completely MIA," she continued. "They found his car, but he'd vanished."

Sam inspected the paper in her hand. It was an article from the _Jericho Herald, _dated September fifteenth,headlined "Centennial Highway Disappearance," and had a picture of a man, captioned "Andrew Carry MISSING."

"Maybe he was kidnapped," Sam suggested, looking up from the article.

"Yeah," Deanna said dismissively. "But, here's another one from April." She tossed another article down onto the folder. She continued doing so for every date she mentioned. "Another one in December '04, '03, '98, '92, ten of them over the past twenty years."

Deanna grabbed the article Sam was holding and scooped up the rest of the stack, sliding them all back into the folder.

"All men, all on the same five mile stretch of road," Deanna pulled a bag out from the arsenal. "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago and I haven't heard from him since. Which is bad enough."

Deanna brought a handheld tape recorder out from the bag. "Then I got this voicemail yesterday,"

The recording was filled with static and the signal was broken up. John's voice floated through the speakers. "Deanna… something big is starting to happen… I need to try and figure out what's going on. It may… Be very careful, Deanna. We're all in danger."

Deanna's turned the recorder off and waiting for Sam's response.

"You know there's EVP on that, right?" Sam asked.

"Not bad, Sammie," Deanna congratulated. "Kinda like riding a bike, isn't it?"

Sam shook her head, exasperated.

"Alright. I slowed the message down, ran it through a gold wave and took out the hiss. This is what I got," Deanna said, pressing play on the recorder.

A woman's voice came crackling through the speaker. "I can never go home…"

"Never go home," Sam contemplated what that could mean as Deanna put away the recorder. She lowered the shotgun and shut the trunk, leaning against it once it was closed.

Deanna's voice took on a desperate edge. "In almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for anything,"

Sam sighed, avoiding Deanna's gaze. If she looked at her sister, she knew she would cave. But it seemed pointless; she didn't have much of a choice here.

"Alright. I'll help you find him," Sam decided.

Deanna nodded, hiding how relieved she really was.

"But I have to get back first thing Monday," Sam warned. "Wait here." Sam turned and headed back to the apartment.

"What's first thing Monday?" Deanna asked.

Sam turned back to Deanna. "I, um… have an interview,"

"A job interview? Skip it," Deanna suggested.

Sam's teeth gritted in irritation. "A law school interview, actually. It's my entire future on a plate."

"Law school?" Deanna echoed, a small smirk on her face.

"We have a deal or not?" Sam asked impatiently; this whole situation made her uneasy.

Though Deanna was silent, her body language said it all.

~ SPN ~

Sam slide her large hook-shaped knife into the duffle bag sitting on the bed. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. Her thoughts were interrupted by Jesse's voice.

"You're taking off?"

Sam looked up at her boyfriend, trying to figure out what to tell him.

Jesse continued, "This is about your dad, right? Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Sam dismissed. "You know, just some family drama."

She moved over to the dresser and opened one of the drawers.

Jesse clearly wasn't convinced. "Your sister said he was on a hunting trip," he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Sam rummaged through the drawer and pulled out some clothes, which she tossed into the duffle. "Yeah, he's just deer hunting up at the cabin," Sam lied. "Probably got Jim, Jack, and Jose with him. I'm just going to go bring him back."

"What about the interview?" Jesse asked.

"I'll be back in time for the interview. This will just take a few days," Sam brushed the concern away.

Sam threw the duffle bag over her shoulder and started for the door.

"Sam, please, wait," Jesse called after her. Sam stopped and turned to face him. This was just as hard as she thought it would be. She hadn't had to lie to Jesse in so long, and here she was openly deceiving him. She felt horrible, but what choice did she have?

"Just stop for a second," Jesse pleaded. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Samantha let out a small laugh. Nothing about this was alright. "I'm fine,"

"It's just…" Jesse sighed, this whole thing was clearly confusing him. "You don't even talk about your family. And now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend the weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which, I don't want to freak you out, but is kind of a huge deal."

Sam set her duffle on the floor and stepped closer to Jesse. She put her hands on either side of his face tenderly. "Hey," she said softly. "Everything will be fine. I will be back before you know it. I promise."

She gave him a lingering kiss. She relucatnatly let go, bent over to pick up the bag and left.

"At least tell me where you're going!" Jesse called after her.

_No chance in hell,_ Sam thought. Jesse would never know anything about this part of her life. She'd help Deanna find Dad and then get back to her normal life. What could go wrong?


	3. On the Road Again

The Impala was parked in front of a gas station pump; the Winchester girls had stopped for provisions and fuel on their way to Jericho.

Sam was sitting in the passenger seat with the door open and her legs hanging out. She had a box sitting on her lap and was rifling through its contents.

Deanna emerged from the convenience mart, carrying some junk food. "Hey!" she called.

Sam leaned out the door a bit, looking at her sister.

"Want some breakfast?" Deanna asked.

"No, thanks. How'd you pay for that stuff, anyway?" Sam wondered. "You and Dad still running credit card scams?"

"Yeah. Hunting's not exactly a modeling career, you know." Deanna said, putting the nozzle back on the gas pump. "Besides, we just apply. Not our fault they send us the cards."

Sam rolled her eyes. "What names did you write on the application this time?" she asked, swinging her legs back into the car and closing the door.

"Burt Aframian," Deanna climbed into the driver's seat, setting down her soda and chips. "And his daughter Helen. Scored us two cards."

"Sounds about right," Sam said, smiling slightly. Suddenly, she sighed in frustration. "God, Deanna, you have to update your music collection."

Sam frowned at the box on her lap; inside were at least a dozen cassettes, some with album art, other were hand-labeled.

"Why?" Deanna sounded incredulous.

"Well, for starters, they're all cassette tapes. And secondly…" Sam grabbed a couple tapes and held each one up as she named it. "Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica?"

Deanna grabbed one of the tapes out of Sam's hands.

"It's the greatest hits of mullet rock," Sam said disdainfully.

"House rules, Sammie," Deanna said, popping the tape into the player. "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts her cakehole." She dropped the empty cassette holder into the box and started the engine.

"For the record, Sammie is a skinny twelve-year-old with glasses. It's just Sam, okay?" Sam corrected while AC/DC's "Back in Black" floated through the speakers.

"What? Sorry, I can't hear you," Deanna said, grinning broadly. "Music's too loud."

She punched the gas and they were gone.

~ SPN ~

As the old Chevy sped past a sign that read "JERICHO 7," Sam hung up her cell phone with a, "Thank you," She turned to Deanna and said, "So there's no one who matches Dad's description at the hospital or the morgue. That's something, at least."

Deanna's eyes flickered briefly over to Sam, and then back to the road.

They were approaching a bridge, which had several police offers conversing near two parked police cars.

"Check it out," Deanna said, causing Sam to lean forward for a closer look.

Deanna pulled the car over. They two girls took a long look at the scene before them before Deanna killed the engine. She opened the glove compartment and pulled out and box of ID cards. She selected one and gave Sam a cheeky grin.

Sam just stared at her sister for a moment.

"Let's go," Deanna said, exiting the car.

The two girls sauntered over to the bridge and walked into the crime scene just like they belonged there.

Deanna didn't even bother with hellos. "You guys had another one like this just last month, didn't you?"

One of the officers, Deputy Jaffe, looked up and saw Deanna. He straightened up and said, "And who are you?"

Deanna flashed her badge saying, "Federal marshals,"

Jaffe's eyes squinted in suspicion. "You two are a little young for marshals, aren't you?"

Deanna laughed, smiling widely. "That's so sweet," she said warmly.

She moved closer to the police car. "You did have another one just like this, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Jaffe answered. "About a mile up the road. There've been others before that."

Sam jumped into the conversation. "So you knew this victim?"

Jaffe nodded. "Town like this, everybody knows everybody,"

Deanna circled the car, looking around.

"Any connection between the victims? Besides them all being men?" she asked.

Jaffe shook his head. "No. Not so far as we can tell."

"So what's the theory?" Sam asked, walking over to Deanna.

"Honestly, we don't know," Jaffe admitted. "Serial murder? Kidnapping ring?"

"Why am I not surprised that's the best you idiots could come up with?" Deanna asked unashamedly.

Sam stomped on Deanna's foot forcefully.

Deanna smashed her lips together to keep from yelling at Sam.

"Thank you very much for your time," Sam said kindly, flashing Jaffe a small smile.

Once the girls were a ways away from the deputy, Deanna smacked the back of Sam's head – hard.

"Ow!" Sam cried. "What the hell was that for?"

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Deanna snapped.

"Why'd you have to insult the police?" Sam retorted.

Deanna stepped in front of Sam, forcing her to halt mid-step.

"They don't know what's going on, we're the only ones who can figure this out," Deanna insisted. "Besides, if we're going to find Dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves."

Sam cleared her throat loudly, looking pointedly over Deanna's shoulder.

Deanna turned around. Standing close by was the sheriff and two FBI agents. _Good thing I didn't grab the FBI badge this time, _she thought.

"Can I help you ladies?" the sheriff asked.

"No, sir, we were just leaving," Deanna told him.

The FBI agents started toward the bridge, and Deanna nodded at each of them as they passed her.

"Agent Mulder. Agent Scully." she quipped.

Deanna and Sam headed past the sheriff, who turned and watched them go.

~ SPN ~

The girls were making their way down the street when they saw a young woman tacking up posters with the missing boy's face on them. They proclaimed: MISSING TROY SQUIRE."

"That must be her," Deanna guessed.

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

The two walked over to where the woman was standing.

"You must be Amy," Deanna greeted.

"Yeah," the woman said, slightly wary.

"Troy told us about you. We're his cousins." Deanna lied easily. "I'm Deanna, and this is Sammie."

Amy remained skeptical. "He never mentioned you to me,"

She started walking away; Sam and Deanna caught up with her quickly and the three ambled across the street together.

Deanna smiled and kept to the story. "That is so Troy. We're not around a whole lot, we're up in Modesto."

"We're looking for him too, and we're just asking around," Sam supplied.

Just then, another young woman approached Amy. She gently put a hand on her arm; it was a gesture of comfort, of sympathy. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Amy said.

"Would you mind if we asked you a couple questions?" Sam wondered.

~ SPN ~

The four girls went into a nearby diner and sat in a booth, Deanna and Sam sitting opposite Amy and her friend, Rachel.

"I was on the phone with Troy," Amy was saying. "He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and… he never did."

"He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked.

Amy shook her head. "No. Nothing I remember."

Sam suddenly caught sight of the necklace Amy was wearing; a pentagram in a circle. "I love your necklace," she said.

Amy held the necklace and looked down at it, a reminiscent smile coming to her face. "Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents..." A laugh bubbled from Amy's lips. "…With all that devil stuff."

Samantha gave a small laugh, looking down briefly and then back up at the girl in front of her.

Deanna gave Sam a look, having her suspicions where this was going. After all, she knew her nerd sister better than anyone. Much better than _Jesse_.

Sam was still talking about the necklace. "Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful." Off Amy's looks, Sam said, "I-I mean, if you believe in that kind of stuff."

_Yeah, that doesn't sound weird at all, _Deanna thought. "Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries," she said, rolling her eyes at her sister.

Deanna took her arm off the back of Sam's seat, where it had been resting and leaned forward. Time for the direct approach. "Here's the deal, ladies. Something isn't right about the way Troy disappeared. So if you've heard anything…"

She trailed off when Amy and Rachel exchanged a look.

"What?" Deanna asked. She could tell they were holding something back.

"Well, it's just…" Rachel seemed nervous to talk about this. "I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk."

"Talk about what?" Deanna and Samantha chorused.

Rachel continued, "It's kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like, decades ago."

Sam nodded encouragingly at Rachel.

"Well, supposedly she's still out there," Rachel continued. "She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever."

Deanna and Sam looked at each other. They had a lead.

~ SPN ~

The Winchesters were in the library soon after talking with Amy and Rachel. They were seated in front of a computer, a web browser opened to the archive page for the _Jericho Herald. _Deanna typed "Female Murder Hitchhiking" into the search box and hit GO. A moment later the screen declared there were zero results.

Deanna thought for a moment before she replaced "Hitchhiking" with "Centennial Highway," only to get the same results, or rather lack thereof.

Sam sat next to her sister, watching her efforts while fidgeting. "Let me have a go," she said, reaching for the computer.

Deanna smacked Sam's hand away. "I got it," she insisted.

_Clearly you don't, if you keep getting no results, _Sam thought angrily. Her sister never had been very good at research. She shoved Deanna's chair out of the way and took over.

"Dude!" Deanna exclaimed. She hit Sam's shoulder, declaring, "You're such a control freak."

"So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?" Sam asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Deanna confirmed.

"Well, then maybe it's not murder," Sam reasoned. She replaced "Murder" with "Suicide" in the search box and, low and behold, found an article entitled "Suicide on Centennial."

Sam skimmed over the article before reiterating it to Deanna. "This was 1981. Twenty-four-year-old Constance Welch jumped off Sylvania Bridge and drowned in the river."

"Does it say why she did it?" Deanna asked.

"Yeah. An hour before they found her, she called 911. She left her two kids in the bathtub for a minute, and when she came back, they weren't breathing. Both died." Sam paraphrased the article.

Deanna raised her eyebrows, suspicions setting in. "Hm,"

Sam continued reading, "'Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn't bear it,' said husband Joseph Welch."

"That bridge look familiar to you?" Deanna pointed to a picture in the article, it was of the Sylvania Bridge, the same bridge the girls had been at earlier with the police.

~ SPN ~

Deanna and Sam walked along the bridge, then stopped to lean against the railing and looked downwards, at the river below.

"So this is where Constance took the swan dive," Deanna commented.

"So you think Dad was here?" Sam asked, looking at her sister.

Deanna shrugged. "Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him,"

She moved further along on the bridge and Sam followed her.

"Okay, so now what?" she asked.

"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while."

Sam stopped in the middle of the bridge. "Deanna, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday –"

Deanna turned to face Sam as she cut her off. "Monday. That's right, the interview." She said, as if it had completely slipped her mind.

"Yeah," Sam's tone was sharp.

"I forgot," Deanna narrowed her eyes at Sam. "You're serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just going to become a lawyer and marry your boy toy?"

Sam took a deep breath, stopping herself from yelling at Deanna. "First of all, he's not a boy toy. Second of all… yeah, maybe. Why not?"

"Does Jesse know the truth about you? About the things you've done?" Deanna's tone was accusatory, she already knew what the answer would be.

Sam stepped closer; she'd forgotten how fast Deanna could piss her off. "No, and he never will,"

"Now that's healthy," Deanna said, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You can pretend all you want, Sammie. But sooner or later you'll have face up to who are really are."

Deanna turned back around and continued along the bridge. Sam followed after her, not willing to let this argument be finished.

"And who's that?" she asked stiffly.

"You're one of us," Deanna said simply.

Sam hurried to get in front of Deanna, the two of them halting. "No," Sam denied, her tone sounding increasingly harsh. "I'm not like you. This is not going to be my life."

Deanna fought back. "You have a responsibility to –"

Sam's voice was rising as her anger did. "To who? Dad? To his crusade? If it weren't for pictures I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom is gone. She's not coming back." By the end of her spiel, Sam's voice had lost its harshness. Now it was just sad and deflated.

In a mere few seconds, Deanna had Sam pressed up against the railing of the bridge, grasping her by the collar of her shirt. "Don't talk about her like that!" Deanna yelled.

After a tense moment, Deanna released Sam and walked away, blowing out a sharp breath. If only blowing out her anger were as easy; has anger at Sam, her anger at the demon, everything.

Deanna was snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of a person standing at the edge of the bridge. Once she studied her closer, she was able to make out a familiar face. Why was it familiar, though? Then it hit her. She'd seen this woman's face in the _Jericho Herald _article Sam had found. Constance Welch was here.

"Sam," Deanna called out, the previous aggression in her voice completely gone.

Sam noticed the complete lack of aggression in her sister's voice. Curious what could have changed it, she went over to stand next to Deanna.

Constance was staring at the two girls, then she stepped forward off the edge. Sam and Deanna ran to the railing and looked over the edge, but they saw no traces of her.

"Where'd she go?" Deanna asked.

"I don't know," Sam was a bit worried. Losing sight of a ghost was never good.

Suddenly, the Impala's engine roared to life, its headlights shining brightly. Deanna and Sam spun around in surprise.

"What the…" Deanna's shock was clearly expressed on her face.

"Who's driving your car?" Sam asked, very confused. She didn't think Deanna would ever leave the keys in the Impala.

Deanna pulled the keys out of her pocket and jingled them in front of Sam's face.

Sam glanced at them, eyes growing wide.

The Impala jerked into motion, driving straight towards them.

They started running in the opposite direction almost immediately.

"Deanna? Go!" Sam shouted.

The car accelerated and was now moving faster than the Winchester girls. It was only a foot or so behind them now. There was only one way to go in order to escape getting run over: down.

Sam and Deanna jumped over the railing of the bridge.

The Impala immediately came to a halt.


End file.
